Many electric generation sites, including renewable energy electric generation sites such as wind turbine electric power generation farms, have controllers that operate to control the generation systems in a manner that can vary the amount of electric power the site produces. For example, wind turbine electric generators are able to accommodate varying wind speeds in order to produce a specified electric power output such as, for example, by varying blade pitch. Actions to control the speed of wind turbine electric generators, such as varying blade pitch, are also able to be used to control the total amount of electric power output by the wind turbine and allow the one or more wind turbines in a wind turbine electric power generation farm to generate less electric power than could be generated under existing wind conditions.
Electric generation sites are dispatched, i.e., decisions are made as to whether to operate or not operate a particular electric generation site and in setting the amount of electric power each site is to generate at a particular time, in order to provide power to an electric distribution grid according to the electric power demands of various electric power consumers such as, but not limited to, transmission line customers or end consumers. Dispatching of electric generation sites is also able to be based on other criteria such as, but not limited to, criteria set forth in various power purchase agreements, other criterion known to those familiar with the art, or any combination of these. In various examples, the frequency, voltage, or both, that are present on an electric distribution grid is able to vary due to differences between the amount of electric power being consumed by customers connected to an electric distribution gird and the amount of electric power being generated and delivered to the electric distribution grid.
Stored energy electric generation systems, such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), provide advantages to the operation of the electric power grid. For example, such stored energy electric generation systems, or BESS, are able to provide for frequency response in order to control frequency shifts due to mismatches between electric power generation and demand. Additionally, such stored energy electric generation systems, or BESS, are able to provide load shifting as is known to those familiar with the art. In general, stored energy electric generation systems are dispatched to produce power in order to meet objectives or requirements of operating and regulating the quality of power on the grid, such as frequency regulation or other criterion known to those familiar with the art.
Such stored energy electric generation systems, or BESS, are able to be installed at any of a number of locations and connected to the electric distribution grid. The installation of a stored energy electric generation systems, or BESS, requires resources such as real estate, power busses, overcurrent protection devices such as breakers, electric power interconnection structures such as electric power buss structures, low voltage to high voltage transformers, monitoring equipment and infrastructure such as, for example, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) equipment, other resources, or any combination of these.
Electrical generation sites such as wind turbine or solar farms, which generate renewable energy, as well as other types of sites such as gas, nuclear and coal powered generation sites may have additional underutilized resources such as available real estate area, existing unused electric protection devices such as breakers, unused or underused electrical buss structures, low voltage to high voltage transformer electrical power capacity, other resources, or combinations of these. The availability of such existing but unused or underutilized resources at existing electrical generation sites may be a factor in determining where to install additional stored energy electric generation systems.
The operations of some renewable energy electric generation sites are able to be improved by adding stored energy electric generation systems to the generation site to augment the electric power output of the generation site. In an example, a wind turbine electric power generation farm with a stored energy electric generation system may produce an excess of electric power, such as during a very windy night. When there is an excess of electric power production, the stored energy electric generation system is able to store the excess energy for later electric power production. When more electric power is desired, the stored energy system is able to deliver electric power from the previously stored energy in addition to the electric power produced by the wind turbine electric power generation farm.